diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fbc8be178..e77683ec0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 - The DataTable cursor is now scrolled into view when the cursor coordinate is changed programmatically https://github.com/Textualize/textual/issues/2459
 - run_worker exclusive parameter is now `False` by default https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/2470
 
+### Added
+
+- Added the `control` property to messages
+  - `OptionList.OptionHighlighted` and `OptionList.OptionSelected`
+
 ## [0.23.0] - 2023-05-03
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/docs/widgets/option_list.md b/docs/widgets/option_list.md
index 2c4a80789..a489e6b4f 100644
--- a/docs/widgets/option_list.md
+++ b/docs/widgets/option_list.md
@@ -90,18 +90,7 @@ tables](https://rich.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tables.html):
 - [OptionList.OptionHighlight][textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionHighlighted]
 - [OptionList.OptionSelected][textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionSelected]
 
-Both of the messages above inherit from this common base, which makes
-available the following properties relating to the `OptionList` and the
-related `Option`:
-
-### Common message properties
-
-Both of the above messages provide the following properties:
-
-#### ::: textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionMessage.option
-#### ::: textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionMessage.option_id
-#### ::: textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionMessage.option_index
-#### ::: textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionMessage.option_list
+Both of the messages above inherit from the common base [`OptionList`][textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionMessage], so refer to its documentation to see what attributes are available.
 
 ## Bindings
 
diff --git a/src/textual/widgets/_option_list.py b/src/textual/widgets/_option_list.py
index 97744971a..c65eae740 100644
--- a/src/textual/widgets/_option_list.py
+++ b/src/textual/widgets/_option_list.py
@@ -253,6 +253,15 @@ class OptionList(ScrollView, can_focus=True):
             self.option_index: int = index
             """The index of the option that the message relates to."""
 
+        @property
+        def control(self) -> OptionList:
+            """The option list that sent the message.
+
+            This is an alias for [`OptionMessage.option_list`][textual.widgets.OptionList.OptionMessage.option_list]
+            and is used by the [`on`][textual.on] decorator.
+            """
+            return self.option_list
+
         def __rich_repr__(self) -> Result:
             yield "option_list", self.option_list
             yield "option", self.option